The mall was crowded on a Saturday night, but Trunks and Goten didn't mind. All of the sights and sounds blended together to form a pleasant background hum as they walked hand in hand from one shop to the next. They hadn't really bought anything but food yet, Trunks was watching to see if anything special enough to serve his purposes caught Gotens' eye as they browsed the shops. They had been together for almost a year now, with a few close calls here and there, but thankfully nothing serious. Trunks thought about how towards the end of the school year Chichi had started showing up at CC unannounced to bring Goten home early, and they had figured that they would need a new plan next year if they wanted to continue to be able to "let loose" during their time together. Unfortunately, when school had gotten out, they couldn't find a good excuse to see each other everyday anymore. They had finally agreed that if they couldn't indulge in what they really wanted, then they would do the next best thing, and have a "friendly" competition (as friendly as competition can get between to people with Saiyan blood) over the summer, to see who could improve the most training with their respective fathers. A month or so into summer break, Goten had shown up at CC unexpectedly, with a huge grin on his face, and a mischievous look in his eyes.

"I win" he said with a confident tone.

"What! What are you talking about, we still have a month and a half to go... If you had ascended to SSJ2 on your own without the fusion I would have felt it..." Trunks said quizzically. Goten laughed and winked; he started to give him a mocking salute, then he vanished.

"You fucking bastard!" Trunks yelled to no one. "Fuck!" How the hell was he supposed to keep up with that? If Goten had learned IT from his father, it opened up a lot of possibilities, but he didn't like the amount of control it would give Goten in/over their relationship... He sighed while rubbing his hands over his face.

"I thought you would be happy" Gotens' voice came from behind him. Trunks whirled around to see that Goten hadn't gone far, and was standing just a few steps behind him with his ki lowered.

"I am happy," Trunks said, "in fact, I'm over the fucking moon that we will be able to see each other so much more easily... It just hit my pride a bit, you know? I just like being the one in control, you know that." Trunks smiled at him when he said it, but he couldn't quite make it reach his eyes. Goten looked at him suspiciously, then took a few steps back, and turned to the side with his hands on his hips.

"Um, what are you doing?" Trunks asked.

"Fuse with me moron" said Goten.

"What? Right now? Why?"

"Just do it Trunks, we need to take care of this - and the best way for us to get on the same page quickly is to be the same person. I only have a few hours before mom will get back from the store, and I'd like to spend the majority of it making out with you if that's ok." Trunks blinked a couple times, frowning, and then took his position.

"Fusion, Ha!" rang out as a bright light flashed through the hallway from under Trunk's door. Gotenks put two fingers to his forehead and disappeared into the night. He hopped from continent to continent for several minutes, finally IT-ing back to CC when he felt his energy beginning to lag. When their fusion ended, Trunks now knew the Instant Transmission, and his doubts about Gotens' place in their relationship had been allayed. Opening the bond between them afterward, Trunks could see how much Goten liked it when he was being looked after by Trunks. The bastard actually got off on Trunks' dominating nature over him - he was a fool to have ever doubted it. Goten had always followed him around, done anything he said, even against his better judgment when it lead to trouble. He pulled Goten to the bed and held him down while nipping and biting every piece of bare skin he could find, until Goten was begging him to remove his clothes and continue with the rest of his flesh. That had been a fun night, and Trunks wanted to do something special for him on their first anniversary, but he wasn't sure what. They had taken to the mall a few hours ago, but so far Trunks hadn't seen anything he thought was special enough.

They were rounding a corner when the scene ahead of them broke Trunks from his revere. A group of big, muscle-bound guys were standing in a semi circle blocking off part of the walkway. He could see they had a couple of smaller guys cornered on one of the many benches that lined the planters down the middle of the strip. One of them had hair dyed into a rainbow that stood up in spikes, and he was being lifted off the ground by the front of his jacket. The other was wearing a shirt that said "I'm not gay, but my boyfriend is" and was getting various drinks poured on him while the attackers jeered and pushed him back and forth. Goten growled beside him. A few of the assholes noticed the noise and turned toward them. Eying their hands still clasped together, they broke off from the pack.

"Looks like we found a couple more fagots" one said to the other, "You fags gonna try and help your little fag friends?" he said mockingly as he went to shove Trunks in the chest. When Trunks didn't budge, he looked a little taken back, but his face began to get darker. If Goten had been human, he would have been freaking the fuck out right now, but since he was half-Saiyan, he just laughed. The sound seemed to startle them, and the whole group of them stopped to look at what was happening. Goten stopped laughing and began to smirk.

"They're not our friends, we've never seen them before in our lives, but we are going to help them, because it's the right thing to do" he said simply and evenly. One of the idiots tried to take a swing at him, and he dodged it easily, laughing again as he looked over at Trunks. What he saw there made him fear for the lives of not only the offending idiots, but every human in the mall that night. It wasn't like Trunks to lose control, but when that imbecile had tried to hurt Goten, breaking their necks and incinerating everything for a mile wide was suddenly on the table. Goten flicked the side of his attackers' head with his finger, dropping him out of 'combat' in an instant, and turned to Trunks, wrapping himself around him and forcing him to look into his eyes. He opened the bond wide, but all he could feel was rage.

"Hey in there," he said softly, "look at me Trunks. You need to calm down, ok? I'm fine, we're both fine, ok?..." It didn't look like it was working. After seeing one of their friends go down, the rest of the gang was starting towards them. It seemed like slow motion to the two demi-Saiyans, but in reality they were probably rushing them all-out. Trunks put his hands on Gotens' waist, then pushed him behind him with a yelp from his chosen, and met the assault head on. To his credit, Trunks didn't actually kill any of them, and even managed to not turn SSJ, but Kami, it was hard. He wanted to rend limbs from sockets and bash sculls against the ground until red and gray swirled in his fingers at the thought of any of them laying a hand on Goten. Goten just stood back, afraid if he interfered it would only make things worse for the poor humans. He looked over at the bench where the assholes' previous victims were standing; they were staring dumbstruck as Trunks took down over a dozen 200 lbs assailants without even breaking a sweat. When every one was incapacitated, some on the floor, some flung into the planter, Goten walked over and slapped Trunks in the face, afraid he wouldn't stop there. Trunks grabbed his hand and growled at him, but Goten held his ground and stared him in the eye, until he could see the insane rage drain off of him. Once Trunks' power bled away, he seemed to come to. He blinked a few times as rational thought was turned back on, and then looked around him.

"Shit" he said under his breath.

"Yeah," said Goten, "No shit." He looked back and saw the other couple(?) still rooted to the spot.

"You guys ok?" he said, walking over to them. Trunks followed, stepping over a few unconscious goons as he went.

"That was Fucking. Amazing." said the guy with the spiky hair.

"Yeah, thanks a lot for that... I've been beat up by those guys before - they mean business when they've been drinking..." the other one said in a shaky voice.

"Well, you're welcome. By the way, I'm Goten, and this is my boyf-" Goten started to introduce them, but was interrupted by Trunks' hand on his arm. He let him know through their bond that he could hear sirens heading their way.

"Oh..., we should probably get out of here before the cops show up, come on!" Goten grabbed an arm and started pulling, seeing Trunks do the same with the other guy, until they had them walking under their own power towards the nearest exit. Once they were a few blocks away, they stopped to introduce themselves properly. The spiky haired boys' name was Justin, and his boyfriends' name was Nathaniel. They exchanged a few of the normal back and forths, then Nathaniel got down to business.

"So, are you guys still in the closet?" said Nathaniel.

"In the closet?" said Goten.

"It means that we aren't open with everyone about being with someone of the same sex" Trunks explained. Nathaniel raised an eyebrow at that,

"You're pretty new to this, um, lifestyle, then? Is that why you didn't want to deal with the cops?"

"Not really, Gotens' life has just been kind of, isolated...actually we've both learned a lot since we got together" said Trunks with a grin, letting the second half of Nathaniel's question go.

"We've been together for almost a year now, our 1st year anniversary will be two weeks from Wednesday" Goten interjected, "have you guys been together long?"

"No, we just started dating a few months ago, his older brother hooked us up by inviting me to one of his parties" said Justin with a wink to Nathaniel. Nathaniel blushed, and then turned to Trunks and Goten.

"You know, you two should come to the next one in a few weeks, it's great to be able to hang out and have fun with like-minded people. My brother's theme parties are pretty well known in the 'community' around here. I have to warn you though, he originally got the idea from the "Pimp & Ho" versions that people throw for Valentines Day. It's not goofy Halloween type stuff though, it's everything from Drag Queens to S&M couples, both male and female, no judging; it can get pretty interesting, if you know what I mean - " Nathaniel winked at them.

"Uh, we're not really into the whole, orgy, thing - but thanks" said Trunks, putting an arm around Goten. Nathaniel blushed and smiled, giving a little bit of a nervous laugh.

"That's not exactly what I meant... some couples do 'pair up' as the night winds down, but no one would pressure you into doing something you weren't comfortable with, and they usually take it upstairs anyway. None of us wants to lose the one place we can just be ourselves, and my brother Eddie would kick out anyone who wasn't playing by the rules."

"I've never been to a party that wasn't a birthday for one of our relatives... It sounds kind of fun..." said Goten to Trunks mentally, quietly asking permission between them.

"Well, it's up to you then Goten, if you want to go, we can work something out" said Trunks out loud, "but don't complain to me if we end up having to leave..." he said just between them.

=========

Alright, who wants a burning hands?😀😀
Review, Review, Review..